2020 election deniers ordered to pay $1 million in Pennsylvania voting machine dispute
CNN
A Pennsylvania judge has determined that three 2020 election deniers must pay nearly $1 million in fees as the result of a years-long legal dispute with state officials over voting equipment used during the last presidential race, according to recent court filings.
A Pennsylvania judge has determined that three 2020 election deniers must pay nearly $1 million in fees as the result of a years-long legal dispute with state officials over voting equipment used during the last presidential race, according to recent court filings. Recommendations from the judge, who was appointed to serve as a special master overseeing the case, attach a dollar figure to sanctions previously imposed by the state’s Supreme Court against two Republican county commissioners and their attorney for allowing an outside firm to examine voting equipment after the 2020 election – despite a court order prohibiting them to do so, according to the new filings. The case, which dates back to 2021, involves actions taken by two Fulton County, Pennsylvania, commissioners – Stuart Ulsh and Randy Bunch – who sought to have Dominion voting equipment examined by a third-party after the 2020 election. Many of former President Donald Trump’s allies falsely blamed Dominion’s software for his election defeat. Thomas Carroll, an attorney who also served as a pro-Trump fake elector in 2020, was also sanctioned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for his conduct and – along with the county and the county commissioners – “shall be jointly and severally responsible” for paying nearly $1 million in fees to cover the Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s legal bills, according to the special master’s latest report. The state Supreme Court will ultimately use the special master recommendations in awarding fees and costs resulting from the case. Last week’s special master report marks one of the final chapters of the Fulton County voting equipment dispute – one of several legal battles over unauthorized access to election systems that emerged from the 2020 presidential race.